


the only gift I need

by PluralForce



Category: Kamen Rider Ghost
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, Skiing, Ugly Holiday Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 12:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17043485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PluralForce/pseuds/PluralForce
Summary: After all that's happened, everyone collectively decides that Alain, Makoto, and Takeru need a stress-free break together. Luckily, Christmas is coming up.





	the only gift I need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moon_Blitz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon_Blitz/gifts).



> Happy holidays, dear recip! I'd been dying for a chance to write this OT3 for a while now, and your Christmas prompts gave me the perfect excuse to put together this bit of fluff. I hope you like it!

Makoto really should’ve been able to predict what would happen when he mentioned offhand that the last time he and Kanon did Christmas was when they were kids.

“Christmas? What’s that?” Alain asked as he stared at Makoto with that cute expression he always got when he was dying to know about some Earth thing but still wanted to seem composed.

“It’s a holiday,” Makoto explained, trying not to laugh at the look on Alain’s face. “You’re supposed to spend time with your loved ones and give each other gifts and things like that.”

Kanon’s face lit up. “Oh, you should see it, Alain, it’s wonderful! Everyone puts up lights and decorations, it’s so pretty!”

“That sounds fantastic!” Alain said with wonder. “I’d like to experience it.”

The conversation seemed to end there. But Kanon had that twinkle in her eye, and Makoto could already see what would happen next.

——

The school day began like any other school day in December, so Takeru wasn’t expecting to come home to the temple and find his two boyfriends and Kanon sitting around the table with Akari like they’d never left. They were all poring over some pamphlets Akari had out, and so nobody noticed him come in.

“Alain! Makoto! Kanon! When did you guys get here?” he burst out, smile threatening to split his face. On cue, they all looked up.

Makoto smiled. “Hi, Takeru. Surprise,” he said calmly.

Takeru tossed his bag aside and scooted in at the table between Makoto and Alain. “It’s great to see you guys! What are you doing here? Wait, is everything okay in the Gamma World?” A sudden pang of dread shot through him.

Makoto must’ve seen something in his expression, because he waved his hands in the air and quickly said, “No, no, everything’s fine! We’re here because of Christmas!”

“Christmas?”

“Kanon was telling me about it,” Alain said, leaning in. “It sounds interesting, so we came to visit.” His face looked more relaxed and open than Takeru ever saw it during the entire conflict they went through; it was a nice change, one Takeru almost forgot about.

“The three of you should go on a trip and do something together,” Kanon interjected quietly.

“Huh?” Takeru looked back and forth between her and Makoto. That sounded great, but… “What about you two? Don’t you want to spend time together as family? It’s your first Christmas together since you were kids!”

“I’ve already had this conversation with her,” Makoto noted dryly. “I said the same thing, but she insists.”

“We can have a sibling celebration to ourselves when you get back,” Kanon said, and the look in her eyes said she wouldn’t budge. “Of course I’d like to do that. But you three also deserve some time together to yourselves.”

Takeru stared at her, then sighed. He’d forgotten how stubborn she could be. “Well, as long as you’re going to be doing Christmas together too!” he said. When the siblings’ nods reassured him, he grinned and added, “In that case, of course I’m not going to say no to a surprise trip with both of you.” He pulled Makoto and Alain both in and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders. Alain made a small surprised noise but didn’t move away. Makoto leaned in closer.

“I hoped you wouldn’t,” Akari said, leaning over the table. “You’ve been studying hard, you need a break. Besides, I’ve already been making plans with these two.” She waved one of the pamphlets in his face.

Takeru took it from her. “A ski lodge?” He flipped through. “This looks nice. Kind of expensive, though.”

“That one’s on the cheaper side, actually,” Akari noted. “Don’t worry about funds, though. I’ve been making some decent money with that research assistant position I took recently. Think of it as an early Christmas present from me.”

Takeru knew she was lying. He knew she’d been saving and putting money away for months.

He glanced at her, then Kanon. Quietly, he said, “Why are you both pushing this so much? Not that I don’t appreciate it, but…”

Akari gave him a sad smile. “You three never got to spend any time together just relaxing, did you? You’re all my friends, and I want you to have just a little bit of that. Experience what it’s like to be a kid for a bit.”

Takeru grinned a watery grin back at her and hugged Alain and Makoto closer.

He had some really good friends.

——

The train ride up went by faster than expected, mostly because Takeru and Makoto spent the entire trip answering—well, attempting to answer—Alain’s questions about how Christmas worked. (“What are you celebrating? What are all the lights for? Why do you exchange gifts?” When they explained it was originally a foreign holiday, that just led to more confusion. “Why do you celebrate it if it’s not your tradition?” Neither of them could actually answer that.)

The ski lodge was on the smaller side and looked like a larger version of a cozy log cabin—exactly what Takeru always expected a ski lodge to look like. The three of them dropped their bags off in their room and went out to sit around the fire that was roaring in the lobby fireplace. Multicolored Christmas lights were strung up along the walls and around the fireplace; a large tree was set up in the corner of the lobby.

“You were right, the lights are pretty,” Alain said with wonder. “And—that white stuff we saw outside, is that snow?”

Makoto laughed, a wonderful, rare sound. “Yes, that was snow. We’re going to be skiing around on that later. Or, well, trying to ski, I guess.”

“Have you ever been skiing, Makoto?” Takeru wondered. “I went once when I was little, but I don’t remember much.”

“I’ve never been,” Makoto admitted. “Didn’t have the chance. I guess you’re the only one with any idea what to expect, Takeru.”

Takeru almost laughed. This would be an interesting trip.

——

Takeru and Makoto made sure Alain was bundled up properly for the cold. He was reluctant to give up his treasured green sweater, but Takeru managed to convince him by pointing out that it would get wet and dirty and possibly damaged if he went out in the snow with it, at which point Alain relented.

The shape of their rental skis made it difficult for them to trudge over to the start of the beginner slope, but that ultimately didn’t matter much, because it left Takeru and Makoto with more time to watch Alain’s first experience with snow. He obviously didn’t know what to make of it—one time he stopped and knelt down to feel some of the cold through his thick winter gloves, but mostly, he kept glancing around as if in awe of how _much_ of it there was. A very light snow started coming down on their way there, and Alain kept trying to catch the falling snowflakes in his hands.

“Cute, isn’t it?” Takeru said, nudging Makoto.

Makoto sighed and shook his head in amusement.

Once they stopped at the top of the slope, Alain asked, “So how does this work?”

“You just slide down the hill on your skis. Use these sticks to push yourself,” Takeru explained.

“Hm. Seems simple enough.” Alain pushed himself forward and took off… and then stumbled and fell a few meters later. He looked back at them with bafflement written all over his face.

As they went over to help him up, Makoto said, “It’s really not as simple as Takeru made it sound.” He grabbed one arm and Takeru took the other, and they hauled him to his feet. “I don’t know what I’m doing either, so let’s see if we can figure it out together.”

Bonding time over skiing! How cute. Takeru left them to their stumbling around for the moment and went to see if he could remember how this worked.

Honestly, skiing was easier than Takeru remembered. He had a few stumbles at the start, but once he got the hang of it, it wasn’t so bad. It was mostly about keeping your balance. Once he figured out where to shift his weight, he could manage to get going. Just push forward and… there we go! He turned to wave at Makoto helping a stumbling Alain and called with a laugh, “See you guys later! Catch you at the bottom!”

The thing about skiing was you went _fast_. The beginner slope was pretty clear of obstacles like trees, but he’d forgotten about people—he had to dodge a few, which was harder than it sounded when you’d just remembered how to balance on skis. It was a pretty smooth ride overall, though. The cold air bit at his cheeks as he slid. It felt good—it meant he was _alive_.

The bottom of the hill came up fast. He leaned back and pushed his knees outward in a neat stop, just like he remembered.

Okay, that went surprisingly well. Now to wait for the other two—

“Takeruuuu!” A voice from up the hill. A familiar voice, in an unfamiliar panic.

Takeru turned to look, equal parts amusement and dread welling up in him. Sure enough, it was Alain, skidding wildly as he went way faster than he should’ve been, eyes wide. He was still yelling—and heading right for Takeru.

Oh, well, nothing for it. Takeru braced himself, seconds before Alain crashed right into him and sent both of them tumbling down into the snow. They sunk deep into it, and with the cold wetness seeping into his clothes below him and Alain sprawled undignified on top of him, Takeru could do nothing but laugh.

Alain managed to drag himself up into a sitting position and stared at Takeru. “You humans do this for fun?”

Takeru just laughed harder.

In their awkward and difficult to move in skis, it took far longer than either of them would want to admit for them to manage to help each other up to standing again. No sooner had they managed than did they see Makoto fly past them, stumble, and wipe out in an ungraceful heap on top of the snow a few feet away.

Takeru, who had finally stopped laughing, started up again and shuffled over to help Makoto. Alain followed, bemused.

As he grabbed Makoto’s elbow to help him up, Takeru said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Makoto looking so undignified before.”

(That was a dirty lie and they all knew it. They’d all seen Makoto at his absolute worst, when he hated the world for the pain it caused him and his sister. When Alain had been brainwashed by his own family into thinking that destroying everything would be for the best. When Takeru threw away his one shot at life to save someone else instead of caring about what would happen to him. They’d all seen each other at their worst. That was why they could be here now.)

Makoto grinned back up at him and said, “So I think we should skip the skiing, guys.”

——

They ditched the skiing. Once they got changed into clean, dry clothes, they decided to go exploring instead. It turned out there was a small town at the foot of the skiing hill, filled with old traditional buildings decked out in Christmas lights. The layer of fresh snow over everything completed the picture-perfect look. They purposefully wandered slowly through the streets to let the time last as long as possible.

Alain marveled at the sights like a child on, well, on Christmas. “How pretty,” he breathed, eyes wide.

“I’d honestly forgotten about all of this,” Makoto admitted.

“Which parts?” Takeru wondered.

“All of it.” Makoto shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t remember most of the celebrations from when Kanon and I were little. When I remembered it was coming up, it was a passing thought, like, ‘Oh, Christmas.’ It was a thing that happened to other people, mostly.”

Well, that put a somber blanket on the mood. Of course, they couldn’t just ignore the fact that the Fukami siblings had nothing even resembling a normal childhood—but it wouldn’t do for anyone to be sad during their date, would it? So Takeru stepped closer and looped his arm through Makoto’s.

“Well, that means now’s the chance to create even more good memories, huh?” he said.

Makoto blinked at him in surprise, then smiled. “That’s true.”

They only got a few more meters along before Makoto said, “Wait, where’s Alain?”

“Huh?” Takeru reluctantly slipped his arm out of Makoto’s and glanced around. He couldn’t have gotten far, it had only been a few minutes… there, those footprints in the snow split off from theirs and went toward a nearby shop.

It didn’t take long for them to find Alain in the back of the shop, engrossed in a display of truly terrible Christmas sweaters.

Oh, this looked fun. Takeru grinned and threw an arm around Alain’s shoulders. “See anything you like?”

Alain jumped at the sudden contact but didn’t move away. “I was just admiring the remarkable variety of colorful clothing humans come up with.”

On Alain’s other side, Makoto made eye contact with Takeru and mouthed, _Don’t encourage him._

Did Makoto really think that would make him try _less_? Takeru glanced down at the sweater Alain was currently holding. It was a festive green, with gaudy, sparkly green garlands sewn in all over it, and red and silver baubles imitating ornaments completing the look. It was truly an impressively awful ugly sweater.

“I’ll buy that for you if you want it,” Takeru offered. He made sure not to miss Makoto silently facepalming in the background.

Alain spluttered. “What—of course I couldn’t ask something like that of you! I—”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got a little bit saved up,” Takeru said. It was true, even. “Besides, Christmas is all about the gift-giving spirit, right?”

“…If you insist,” Alain muttered.

“Great!” Takeru exclaimed, and dragged him up to the counter to pay for it. He winced when he saw the price, but—worth it. Then he shoved Alain off in the direction of the store’s lone dressing room to change into it.

As he and Makoto waited, the tiny old woman working the counter said in a warm voice, “Enjoying the holiday season with your friends, are you, boys?”

“We’re on a date,” Takeru told her brightly.

“Takeru,” Makoto murmured in a warning voice.

Takeru smiled, unrepentant. “What?”

The old lady chuckled. “Ah, a holiday date with friends. I went on plenty of those with my girl friends back in the day.”

Makoto rolled his eyes. Takeru laughed.

Alain emerged from the dressing room then, looking self-conscious and oddly adorable in the terrible sweater. They both assured him he looked great, very in-season—Makoto more reluctantly than Takeru.

As they continued on down the street, Alain asked, “You said Christmas is about gift-giving, so doesn’t that mean I should get the two of you something? That’s how this holiday works, isn’t it?”

“You don’t have to,” Makoto assured him.

“Besides, I know neither of you have any money to get anything,” Takeru said. “It’s okay.”

Alain frowned. “That still doesn’t seem right…”

Takeru slipped in between them and grabbed their hands, Makoto on his left and Alain on his right. “The only gift I need is time spent with you two,” he declared.

“Takeru, that’s so cheesy,” Makoto groaned, but he was smiling.

(Besides, Takeru knew one of their other friends would help Alain get something for each of them once they got back.)

——

All in all, it was a wonderful day. Nothing particularly of note happened. They wandered around the town, and window-shopped, and talked, and had a simple but nice meal together. It was one of the best days Takeru could remember.

On their way back, as they trudged up through the snow, Makoto lingered back behind the other two for a minute. Takeru didn’t think much of it until a snowball hit him in the back of a head.

He slowly turned to face Makoto’s stoic gaze.

“This is also a fine Christmas tradition,” Makoto told Alain somberly. The slight twitch at the corners of his mouth betrayed him.

“You know what this means?” Takeru said to Alain, who was looking back and forth between them in bewilderment. “This means _war_.”

And he scooped up a handful of snow, packed it into a misshapen ball, and threw it at Makoto’s head. Makoto dodged it easily and ran behind a nearby tree.

It was on.

It was truly a fight for the ages. Well, okay, no it wasn’t, not for two of them. Takeru ducked between trees and rocks and whatever else he could find, carrying a few snowballs with him and throwing them at whoever he happened to see first. Obviously the best strategy. Makoto seemed to forgo strategy altogether in favor of throwing armfuls of snowballs at them as a defense strategy. It _felt_ like a fight for the ages, but it probably just looked like two idiots goofing around in the snow. At any rate, they distracted each other long enough to keep from realizing that Alain was over there building a freaking _fortress_ in the snow and hiding in it. At that point it became two against one as they tried to figure out a way to take him down. In the end, neither of them managed before the light faded too much for them to see, and they had to call it off.

In the end, no one was sure who won, but it didn’t really matter.

——

Takeru had thought he’d been doing a lot better at the whole “remember you have a physical body again” thing, but when they got back to their room, he had another one of those moments where he tried to phase through the door instead of opening it, and was rewarded with a solid knock on his forehead and a painful red spot.

“I’m never going to get rid of that habit, am I,” he said to himself while he let the other two lead him inside and fuss over him. “I’ll be sixty-four and still be running into things.”

“Don’t sound so resigned to that,” Makoto scolded as the two of them sat him down on the nearest bed. “You shouldn’t keep getting yourself hurt.”

“I mean, I don’t mind,” Takeru said. “I told Akari before, it reminds me that I’m alive.”

They sat down on either side of him and leaned in close. Despite the cold they’d all just been out in, their bodies radiated warmth.

“That’s right,” Makoto said quietly. “We’re alive. All of us.”

“Alive to see everything get better,” Alain murmured.

Yeah. And soon enough, Christmas would be over and Makoto and Alain would have to leave again to do bigger things, and Takeru would have to go back to his own life and pretend for the public like being dead for the better part of a year hadn’t given him a life-changing experience, and none of them would know for sure when they’d be able to simply spend time together like this again. But that was okay, because they were alive, and they had the memories to cherish forever.

In the fading evening light casting shadows about the room, Takeru leaned on both of them and thought about how lucky he was.


End file.
